Four Letters
by Jaiaelle
Summary: Lois Lane has a secret crush... Written pre-Doomsday.


_Author's Note: As mentioned in the author's note of my previous story, I'm done with Smallville, but this was already uploaded so I decided to publish it anyway._

Thought the basement of the Daily Planet was hustling, Lois Lane seemed completely oblivious to the noise as she sat hunched over her desk. Her fellow reporters assumed that she was deep in concentration as she pondered the next word for whatever article she was currently writing. Or perhaps she trying to decipher a misspelled word from her own notes, as was often the case. Whatever had so captured her attention had to be, however, related to reporting because she was Lois Lane, after all. They would have all been surprised had they glimpsed over shoulder and found her staring intently at…her name.

_Lois Lane_, printed in cursive, where the only two words on the giant sheet of paper.

Staring at the two words, she tapped her pen against her teeth, humming the love theme from her favorite superhero movie under her breath. Finally deciding that she had put enough consideration into her potential actions, she placed the pen to the paper, glanced left and right, then added a dash after Lane and four letters. Swallowing, she gazed at the paper in complete solemnity until a sweet smile stole over her face.

Now, the line read _Lois Lane-Blur._

Just as quickly as the elation came, it disappeared. Feeling more than a little embarrassed, Lois moved to cross off the telling last name she had added to her own. Before she could, Clark popped up, seemingly out of no where.

"Lois, did you hear the scanner?"

Jumping, Lois covered the three words with her hand. "What? I'm not doing anything." At Clark's confused face, Lois back tracked in her mind, blushing as she realized what he had asked her. "Uh, yeah, the scanner. Come on Smallville, let's go get that story." Crumpling up the paper, she tossed it in the wastebasket as she charged toward the door and up the stairs.

Puzzled, Clark looked at what she had thrown in, tempted to reach in and see what had made Lois act so mysteriously. He was just about to give in to that temptation when a shrill "Smallville!" echoed down the stairs. Sighing, he made quick strides to meet her halfway up the stairs, shooting one last look at the wastebasket before it was out of sight.

- - - - - - -

Later that night, the basement had become silent, the only noise to be heard the faint hum of Clark and Lois' computer monitors. And then, with the click of a mouse, only Clark's was still humming. Giving Clark a tired smile, Lois bid him good night.

Reigning in all his courage, Clark called after her. After stopping in mid step, she slowly spun around to face him. "Smallville,this better be good because I've got a headache the size of Canada and my feet are in desperate need of a hot soak."

Swallowing, and feeling unsure of himself, Clark nodded, letting her know that he did indeed understand her predicament. "I know you want to get home Lois," he said. "But before you do, I just wanted to…wanted to ask you if…possibly you might want to…go out to dinner with me tomorrow night? You'll have the morning to sleep in, since it's Saturday…" Trailing off, he attempted to keep all the hope inside from flooding his eyes.

"Are you…are you asking m-me on a date?" Lois stammered.

It was shocking to believe, but he was actually asking Lois Lane on a date. Spending time with over the phone, having conversations with a Lois he had always known was there but had never before glimpsed. He had either never taken the opportunity or she had not revealed that side of her to him. It was, most likely, an unfortunate combination of the two. "Yes, Lois, I am."

Stunned into silence, which was quite the feat, Lois held her head very still as she contemplated her answer. He, in turn, watched her confliction as she debated a "yes" versus a "no." Finally settling on the best one for the moment, she looked Clark in the eye…and disappointed him. "I'm sorry, Clark, but I can't. If you had asked me even three months ago, I probably would've said yes. I'm not saying my feelings have changed…" At the mention of the 'f' word, her eyes dropped to the concrete ground. "…but I have. And, right now, it's just not what's best for me."

Blinking a couple of times, Clark digested her refusal, then spoke softly. "Does this have anything to do with The Blur?"

Appearing flustered, Lois vehemently denied that _he _had even entered her thought process but in doing so, revealed to Clark that he really had.

Discouraged, Clark smiled a sad smile. "It's okay Lois. Maybe you'll be ready in the future."

At the unspoken "I'll be waiting," Lois squinted her eyes, tilting her head at an angle. "I just hope this doesn't hurt our, you know, working together thing."

"Trust me, it won't," Clark reassured her.

Not seeming to really trust him, she wished him one more good night.

He watched her walk up the steps then stood himself, shutting down his computer as he did so. While gathering his things, his eyes fell on the waste paper basket. Not able to deny his curiosity any longer, he crept to the bin and fished out the crumpled paper Lois had tossed in earlier. Removing it, he felt a tinge of guilt but found he couldn't stop until he saw what was written on the paper. When the paper was completely un-crumpled, his eyes were drawn to the only words on the page.

_Lois Lane-Blur._

The smile that had once been sad turned giddy. Lois had a crush on him. Well, she had a crush on The Blur but he was The Blur and so there was no suppressing the feelings of joy that came crashing over him. Perhaps his blossoming love for Lois would be considered ill-timed by some, because Lois was falling herself for Clark's alter ego who she did not know was Clark, but he thought it made sense. It was as The Blur that his eyes were opened to the soul mate who had been there all along, and it was The Blur that Lois found herself drawn to, even writing her name fused with his (or at least as close as she could come to The Blur's last name).

His fist almost balled the paper back into a ball but he changed his mind at the last second, carefully folding the precious paper and slipping it into his pocket.

One day, long after Lois had agreed to go on that date with Clark, he would pull out the paper and tease her relentlessly. Until then, he had to simply be himself around her and hope that she would fall for Clark harder than she had for The Red Blue Blur.


End file.
